Friendship
by PersianBlueAllium
Summary: INDEFINITE HIATUS A Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons AU Merida, Hiccup, and Jack travel to Rapunzel's tower to recruit her into the war against Pitch Black, the Nightmare King. But as Jack tries talking to Rapunzel, he learns some interesting, and devastating things to come in the future that she tells him about. [3rd Person]
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

**Chapter One:**

Rapunzel sat at the base of the wall in her room, just to the left of her bed. Her curtain was closed, and Gothel was gone to get supplies. It had just dawned nighttime, and her mother was not expected back until sunset the next day, give or take a few hours.  
She had painted most of her room already, and all that was left was the baseboards. She drew the grass she could see from some five stories up atop her tower to the feild down below. It gave her a sense of satisfaction. Maybe, just hopefully, she would feel as though she were outside.

"Are you sure this is it Jack?"  
Jack nodded to the side where Hiccup stood. "Of course, I'm sure."  
Merida scoffed at his apparent lie. No one would be sure unless they got up there and checked for themselves. "How are ya gon' get up there, Frost? The thangs at lest as tall as mah own castle, an it nae got any stai's."  
The white haired boy gave her a dirty look. "I'm thinking, I'm thinking! Alright?" He turned back towards the stones and looked up.  
It was silent for a moment while they all thought. "I can't lift both of you up there with me," Jack said, more to himself than aloud.  
"Strapping young laddie, aren't ya?" Merida said sarcasticly.  
"What if we use my rope?" Hiccup interjected before Jack could throw a retort at her. "Mer can attatch it one of her arrows and fire it up there. You fly up, and we can climb. "  
"Then toss meh your rope, Hic!" The two began to fasten Hiccup's rope to the arrow.  
Jack nodded in agreement. It was a decent enough plan, and he would get the chance to speak with the teenaged girl alone for a few. "Don't come in until I say you can, got it?" They mumbled an understanding while working. Jack let the wind carry him up.

There was a small thump, but it was loud enough for Rapunzel to hear it. Her head automatically turned towards the little sheet seperating herself and the rest of the tower. Rapunzel's eyes narrowed just slightly as she stood up, very slowly and carefully. Gently, she placed the brush on her bed and made her way to the purple curtain. Her hand stayed on the wood of the doorframe, and she tried her best to breathe only slightly.  
A creak, and she knew it was the creak of the two doors that lead outside onto her little platform. Her breathing came faster and heavier as she thought about who or what it could be. Her hair traveled in little waves behind her, back to the place where she had been sitting and painting.  
What am I supposed to do? she thought rapidly, racking her brain to find a solution.  
She threw the back the curtain.


	2. Chapter 2: Names

**Chapter Two:**

Rapunzel stared at the boy. There was no way he was a stranger, at least not to her. White hair, the frost that clearly showed on his fingertips, barefoot... she knew him.  
_"Jokul Frosti_."  
She watched his eyes turn from searching to confused. "Rapunzel," he said, his expression still showing his confusion. "How did you know who I am?"  
Rapunzel fell forward, her hands crashing onto the railing in front of her, body giving into the bending of her elbows. Her hair flew around her as well, little straglers falling in front of her face.  
"How could I not know?" she whispered, eyes lighting up. "I- I've read books about you, the man of winter, of cold, and snow, and-" she took a shallow breath. "-you're here every November through March. Outside my tower. And everything is white."  
Jack looked taken aback. His eyes were wide, and his body was still. There was a chill in the air, and Rapunzel could feel it in herself. She let go of the railing and came down the stairs. His eyes followed her every step, every last little tip toe it took her reach the top of her bookcase. "I haven't look at it in quite a couple months, since the last snowfall," she said, dusting the cover off with her sleeve. A blue bound book, with pages that were still white - but not as white as they once were. She handed the book out to him.  
"Jokul Frosti," Rapunzel said. "The story of the man who brings the winter. Mother would tell me stories about him, that is - after her and that man's affair. But I won't go into that."  
Jack thumbed through the pages, skimming, she assumed. After another moment, he looked up. "Rapunzel, I came here for a reason."  
"I've met you before," Rapunzel blurted.  
Jack tilted his head. "You have?"  
She nodded. "I remember when I was little, I used to look out on the balcony and watch the snow fall, and you would do little tricks in the air and behind the clouds. Mother would yell at me to go to bed."  
The room became hushed. Jack stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "Does that mean.. we can be friends, Rapunzel?" he asked finally.  
Rapunzel then took a step back, a look of horror on her face. "No. We cannot be friends, Jack."  
"I don't understand."  
"No!" she shouted, standing up straighter. "I cannot be friends with you."  
"Why not?"  
"Because I said so!"  
Jack took a step forward. "That's not a real answer, Rapunzel."  
"It is!"  
"It isn't!"  
"Yes!"  
"Why, Rapunzel?"  
"Because!"  
"Because why?!"  
"No!"  
"_Why?!_"  
_"Because it'll kill you!_"


	3. Chapter 3: Revelations and Intimacies

**Chapter Three:**

The little room had gone to a hush again, and Rapunzel was sure Jack didn't know what to say.

Thankfully, he didn't have to.

She had moved from her spot to take a seat by the bookcase. "I've met another Guardian, Jokul," she told him. "I have plenty time to read, and I've read your story every winter, and I've also read others." Rapunzel looked up at him. "It happened when I lost my last baby tooth."

_**[view switch]**_

Jack could hardly believe his ears as Rapunzel spoke. He tried to pay attention.

"I had read the story of the Tooth Fairy. She was a Queen over her domain, and every single night and day she worked to collect the teeth from children. Mother told me this was a stupid story and kept saying I shouldn't do it, but eventually, she let me place my last baby tooth under my pillow. I assumed she wanted me to see that the legend wasn't real and that the world was cruel - like she tells me all the time.  
"So I did it." Rapunzel was silent after that. Jack only stared at her, wondering why she wouldn't go on.

"Go on," he told her, their eyes holding each other.

She only sighed and continued in a somewhat hushed voice. "That night was the night the Tooth Fairy visited me."

"She never makes visits though, normally it's just the mini fairies."

Rapunzel's eyes widened at that, and she leaned forward. "You know her?"

"Yes, I know her," he mumbled, trying to keep the gruff from his voice. Jack quickly shook his head and said, "But she doesn't do much of the visits. Are you sure it was her?"

"She was shorter than you are - about the same height as me, and had feathers. Everywhere. I don't think it was a... a mini fairy, as you put it."

He nodded. That was his good old Tooth. Making special stops, though? He wondered why she had chosen this place - or rather, why she had chosen the girl with the magic hair.

Rapunzel went on. "I stayed awake that night, like any kid would, and waited for her. And she came. And she knew me by name and said, 'Hello, Rapunzel. I see you've lost your tooth, dearie, can I take it for you?' And I told her she could and I gave it to her."  
Jack tried to wrap his mind around it. "What does this have to do with... dying?"

"After that, she left me, smiling and giggling. I was happy I had met her.

"But I wasn't happy of afterwards."

She took another long pause and Jack urged her on.

"I had a nightmare. He... he told me that anymore friends of those I made would die one day, and it would be because of me."

_**[view switch]**_

Merida and Hiccup sat on the ledge just outside listening to their new found friend try to reason with the girl they needed to recruit. Merida's head swirled trying to wrap around what was happening.

"I almost don't want to believe it," she mumbled to Hiccup, who sat on the ledge next to her. He nodded in agreement. "It's almost too... vague ta even be real."

"In my opinion, it's not very vague at all. I think San- er, uh, North, gave us a very detailed retelling of the current events."

Merida hit him on the shoulder, and he gave out a small yelp. "The _idea_ of it, Hic, ya smart alec."

"Well, yeah, I guess that's pretty vague, I guess." He rubbed his arm where she had hit him. "I mean, nightmare horses, world domination, it's all very... vague and strange. Definitely strange."

"I dunno, Hic. Do ya think we can do it?"

He shrugged. "No. But the rest of them think we can. The Guardians, that is. And I mean, think about it. What's gonna happen if we don't try?"  
Merida was silent.

"Think of your brothers. If Pitch does win this... war, imagine what he'd do to them."

"I dun wan'ta think 'bout it, Hic," she replied. They were both quiet again when Merida decided to bring it up. "What about that girl back at your village? The blonde one, who always hit ya?"

Hiccup's cheeks instantly became red. "Astrid? No, nothing. Nothing about her. She doesn't know anything - hey wait. We picked you up after Jack and I had already left my village. How'd you know about Astrid?"

Merida shrugged. "You're not the only one who talks ta Jack, ya know. We have our... 'civilized' conversations every now an'then." She let a long pause fill between them before speaking again. In a hushed tone, she said, "How do we even know any a'this is even real? It's... it's crazy!"

The boy shrugged again. "Well, I mean, we both see Jack. So either we're completely insane, or he's real and all of this is real, too. I'd like to believe that I'm somewhat normal sometimes so yeah, it's real - at least in my mind."

"What if it's not, though? And Jack's in there try'n ta con-vence some poor, pretty little lassie that the world she thought she knew was wrong and she has ta come with us and help us? We're here doin' the same thing you two did ta mahself, and what Jack did to you? How do we even know she's gon' accept it?"

Hiccup looked away from Merida at that point and stared off into the distance. She didn't see what he found so interesting about the trees. "I guess, we just have to hope. Hoping is a good thing, and a bad thing, but that's reall all we have left. You have to hope your brother's are gonna be okay, and I have to hope that Toothless is somewhere being okay, and that everything's gonna be okay."

"I'm really sorry I scared away your dragon, Hiccup."

"It's okay, Toothless is my best friend. He'll come back..."

The silent 'I hope' rang through the evening air.


	4. Chapter 4: Bickering

**Chapter Four:**

It had been 4 days, and Toothless still hadn't come back.

Hiccup sat on the rock by what was, he guessed, his bed. Merida was lying down over by the trees napping, Rapunzel drew in the dirt, and Jack... well, Jack was having no such luck with the fire.

He watched the ice boy rub two sticks together trying to make flames. It was pointless, he knew, and he also knew Jack knew, too. The kid threw up his hands in frustration. "I. Give. Up."

Hiccup, with a sigh, stood up and walked over to the dropped sticks. "You're rubbing them the wrong way," he told Jack, and showed him how to do it. A spark came almost immediately.

"How did you do that?" Jack asked.

"It's not hard," he replied. "But I guess for old Frosty, it might be though. You do realize that ice and fire don't mix, right?"

Jack chuckled a bit. "Maybe that's why I don't get along with Merida too well."

"I 'erd that, boy."

Hiccup snickered. The two were always at it with each other, and he almost wondered if they liked the other person. Not like as in friendship like, but romantically. Hiccup dismissed the idea, though, because - like he said just then - ice and fire just don't go together.

Jack sat down next to the fire and stared at it. "It's supposed to get cold tonight-"

"You mean, not just a'cause yer here?" Merida interjected.

Jack glared at her before continuing. "So I suggest everyone find a decent spot near the fire. I stay away from it tonight."

Merida commented again as she stood up. "Like ya did tha other night, huh?"

"Look, I said I was sorry, alright?"

"I was freezin' tha entire night."

"I apologized, and that's all there is to it."

"Uh huh, sure, Frost. Sure."

Jack let out another frustrated growl, similar to the one earlier, and stood up again. "Whatever, Mer."

"Whateva' ya'self!" She shouted at him as Jack walked away into the woods.

Hiccup was used to this by now. After a week of dealing with them, it wasn't too hard to tune it out. Rapunzel though, had never really been around them like he had, and Hiccup could tell she had grown a little too uncomfortable this time.

"I don't think you guys should fight," she mumbled.

Merida scoffed and gave the blonde a sneering look. "Oh, and why's that, buttercup? Your lit'le heart cannae take an argument?"

Rapunzel stood up a bit at that comment. "Of course, I can take an argument. Mother and I bicker sometimes-"

The wild girl laughed at her loudly. "Ohhhh, sometimes ya bicker, and sometimes ya argue. But ya don't do it always, now do ya?" Rapunzel only stared at her. "No, I didn't think so. I'm used ta it, girly, and you should get used ta it too. Cause trust me, the world isn't always sunshine and rainbows whereva' ya walk."

"I'd think you'd be a bit happier here than at your home."

"What do ya know of mah home life, blondie?"

"Your parents are making you marry, I know that." She told Merida.

"Don't ya ever, _ever talk to me about mah parents_."

"How could you possibly think that being forced into something is a lot better than this?"

"You don't know what yer talkin' bout, ya hear me?" Merida's face began to get a red as her hair. "You don't know anythin' about tha world that's under yer feet. You've been stuck in a tower for most of yer life, and _you don't know anything!_"

Rapunzel was silent throughout Merida's tiny tirade, but at the last scream, she broke into tears and went running off into the woods opposite the way Jack had gone.

Hiccup stood motionless, as he had the whole scene that played out before him. His eyes scanned Merida's, who was coming down from her outrage. The red head fixed her gaze on him and asked, "What?"

"We're suppossed to be working together," he told her.

She ruffled her hands at him and stalked back to her tree. "No, we've all just got a similar job ta do; nowhere in that sentence does it imply that we have ta work together."

Hiccup only shook his head at Merida. "I'm gonna try and find Rapunzel - she's new to the world, and she could get lost." He started towards the way their new friend had run off to, and mumbled under his breath, "Ya big brat."

"I h'erd that."


	5. Chapter 5: Thoughts

**Chapter Five: Thoughts**

She didn't know how far she ran, and to be honest, she didn't really care. Rapunzel was hurt, and she felt terrible.

Why did Merida yell at her like that? All she had said was her opinion. The young blonde thought that she should like this.. adventure a bit more than being forced into something.

And who was she to say that Rapunzel knew nothing? She knew a lot! ... Well, given the circumstances. She wondered how Merida knew she was stuck in her tower all her life. Probably the same way Rapunzel knew she was being forced into marriage.

Jack Frost.

They liked to talk at night; he always asked her questions about Tooth, and she tried her hardest to answer them completely. The ordeal had happened years and years ago - when she had been eight, maybe? The times had gone by, and her memory was foggy, though one thing remained of that night. The dream.

Or rather, the nightmare.

Rapunzel shook her head, wiping her eyes. No. Don't think about it. It always made her feel... tainted when she did. She had slowed to a walking pace, and tried fixing her hair. Thank God she had braided it earlier that day, otherwise it'd be filled with leaves and twigs and other unsightly things.

To be quite honest with herself, Rapunzel was slightly glad that she and Merida didn't get along well. They certainly weren't friends, and that meant she wouldn't die. At least, not because of her. That much she could be happy about.

_**[view switch]**_

Jack threw the stone and watched as it skipped across the pond. Huh. He doubted he'd be by one of those in a while, but life had an interesting way of leading you places.

Four skips._ New record_, he thought, when suddenly there was a rustling behind him.

Jack turned to see Hiccup come stumbling out of the woods, his replacement metal leg not exactly failing him, but definitely not helping either. Hiccup fell over and Jack threw out his staff for his friend to grab a hold of. He steadied himself and walked over to Jack.

"Thanks," Hiccup mumbled. He nodded a response, and the two sat down at the bank of the pond. "Looking for Punz and I find you instead."

"Why were you looking for Rapunzel?" Jack asked.

Hiccup nodded back the way he came. "Merida came after her - she ran off crying. Though I'm kind of concerned at how I ended up here instead of finding her. Guess I'm not too good at directions."

Jack chuckled and agreed. "We should find her, huh?" He stood up after a few moments and dusted off his pants of the dirt. Hiccup remained sitting, staring at the waters reflection of the sunset. "You coming, Hic?"

"How come you and Merida fight all the time?"

Jack felt a little taken aback at the sudden question. Where had this come from? "We just don't... go well together. Merida has a hard time letting some things go, I guess."

"The reason they fought was because Rapunzel brought up Merida's marriage problem."

He knew where this was going, and quickly stopped it. "I think that's for her to figure out, Hiccup." He leaned on his staff, watching the viking. "We should go find Blondie before dark hits. With what she told me about Pitch's nightmare... I doubt she'd want to be alone in the woods at night."

Hiccup stood and turned away from the water, walking towards Jack. "Yeah, you're right. I'm scared for the girl."

The two began to walk into the woods, Jack taking one last look at the pond.

Four skips. Next time he'd try for five.


	6. Chapter 6: Talking

**Chapter Six: Talking**

"Blasted ninny..." Merida grumbled to herself once Hiccup left. "I dun' want to work togetha' with them."

She turned her head once he left and tried to sleep again. It didn't work out the way she planned it to. Her 'nap' consisted of more grumbles and some half-hearted attempts to snore.

Merida rolled over again and opened her eyes. In the woods where her eyes traveled, was a floating blue, teal-ish orb.  
A wisp.

She sat up instantly, top heavy until her hands landed on the ground. Merida leaned forward and watched opened mouthed as it beckoned her.

Thoughts of the others went through her mind, but to be honest, Merida only thought of them for a second. The wisps for her, not them - she'd find her way back... eventually, if that was her fate.

She stood and walked over to the wisp. It giggled and she reached out to touch it - and it was gone, disappeared to a little bit further up it's path.

Merida smiled and followed it. She jumped, and skipped, and laughed as she tripped over tree roots and just barely ducked branches. One last leap led her to a clearing, where a girl was sitting on a rock, playing with her eighty thousand feet of hair.

She sighed. _Rapunzel_.

Rapunzel looked up, still wiping her eyes to see Merida walking over to her. She quickly turned her back to the fiery girl.

"Did you come to yell at me some more?" she asked quietly.

Merida was about to retort her comment when she suddenly hesitated. Rapunzel's voice gave it away pretty plainly. She was extremely upset, and Merida was sure she was the last person Rapunzel wanted to see.

"Because if you did, you can go. I won't take that again."

Oh? Where did she get a backbone from? Merida sighed again and said, "I'm not here to yell at ya again, Punz."

"Then what do you want?" she sniffled.

She crossed her arms and looked to the side. "I came ta apologize to ya.."

Rapunzel turned around to face her. "You.. what?"

"I'm sorry, a'right? I didn't.. I shouldn't have gone off on you like tha' and you nae deserved it. You were just statin' somethin' you thought and I blew up like a cow."

Rapunzel only stared. Merida huffed and sat down next to the rock, leaning against it. She watched as a deer ran through the woods. "Mah parents are very good people, but very stupid sometimes when it comes to mah own wants and needs. I don't need a man ta marry, and I certainly dun' want ta marry either. It's not who I am, and maybe it might happen in the future, but it's not the future yet, and I wan' ta live a little of my life before I get... tied down ta bein' a real princess - to bein' a Queen."

"That's really understandble, Merida," Rapunzel replied. "Did you tell them that?"

"If I thought they'd lis'n, I would." It was silent another moment. "I'm sorry I went off on you like that."

"My mom is sort of the same way," the blonde commented.

Merida looked up to her. "How so?"

It was Rapunzel's turn to sigh now as she told her story. "Every year, there's a place not too far from my tower - maybe about three days of journey there and back - that sets off these floating lights one night a year, and it always falls on my birthday."

Merida smiled. "That sounds really cool, Punz," she said.

Rapunzel shook her head. "Mother never let me go and see them, even though I begged her. So another birthday went and passed. It was last week actually. The day before you three found me."

"Happy late birthday," she mumbled.

"Thanks, but it's really nothing now. I'm eighteen." Rapunzel ran a hand through her hair before continuing. "Mother can be... really insensitive sometimes, and it wasn't just that one time - there have been countless other memories that strike her.. un-caring side."  
Merida knew all too well about that. She loved her mum, but Elinor could get rather un-caring, too, she felt. It looked as though her and Punz weren't all that different after all.

Merida stood up and reached for Rapunzel's hand. The blonde smiled and accepted the offer, and together they walked back to the camp sight in silence. Jack and Hiccup were there when they got back.

"Where have you been?!" Hiccup yelled at Merida. "We thought something had happened to you!"

"Well, I mean, I didn't, but Hic here was pretty worried about you, so yeah!" Jack chimed in.

Rapunzel couldn't help but laugh. "We're fine, aren't we, Merida?" she asked her friend, giving her a wink.

Merida chuckled and said, "We're totally fine."

Jack and Hiccup only stared, looking down right confused. Jack shrugged. "I have a feeling I don't want to know," he confessed before going to sit down a few yards away from the fire.

Merida noticed this and went to sit down by him, only a few feet up. She looked back and patted the floor seat next to her, telling him to move up closer.

Jack grinned after a moment and moved up to sit by the fire. Rapunzel and Hiccup joined just then, too.

"Let's try and get some sleep, alright?" Jack said. "In the morning, we'll start heading northern."

"Are we trying to get to North?" Hiccup asked.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, and from there I can have him contact Tooth. She should be able to help us sort out this uhm," he gave Rapunzel a glance, "thing."

They all nodded in agreement. They would get to the bottom of this eventually. Merida even started to think that maybe working together with them wouldn't be such a hard task to accomplish.


End file.
